January 2, 2001, Seattle Times / AP, Estrada again tied to bank, by Jim Gomez,

January 2, 2001, Seattle Times / AP, Estrada again tied to bank, by Jim Gomez, 

MANILA - A senior bank official told the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada yesterday that her boss ordered her to cover up Estrada's ownership of a multimillion-dollar account under a false name.

The testimony by Clarissa Ocampo, the senior vice president of Equitable PCI Bank, reopened the Senate's trial after a 10-day recess as prosecutors pressed their case that Estrada hid an undeclared fortune in a bank run by a friend.

The trial resumed after a series of bombings Saturday killed 16 people and injured more than 100 in Manila, fueling tensions already high because of uncertainty over Estrada's fate.

The opposition has accused Estrada allies of planting the bombs as a pretext to declare martial law. The government attributed the bombs to opposition forces or communist guerrillas trying to oust Estrada.

Estrada is on trial on charges of bribery, graft, betrayal of public trust and violation of the constitution, in the country's first impeachment trial. A conviction on any charge by two-thirds of the 22-member Senate would force him from office.

In dramatic testimony before the holiday recess, Ocampo said she saw Estrada sign a $10 million check with the false name "Jose Velarde" in February as a personal loan to the company of a friend, drawing from an account under that name.

Yesterday, Equitable PCI legal officer Manuel Curato testified that he also watched Estrada sign the false name on the loan documents.

Ocampo testified that on Dec. 12 - after the trial began - then-bank chairman George Go, a close friend of Estrada, told her to replace papers showing that a multimillion-dollar account belonged to "Jose Velarde."

Ocampo said she was ordered to draft new documents showing the account was owned by businessman Jaime Dichaves, a close friend of Estrada. Dichaves later sent a letter to the Senate impeachment tribunal, saying the account was his.